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MMORPGs, Are You There Yet?
maddugan writes "CNN recently posted a story about a company by the name There and their opening of a public beta for their 'Virtual Universe'. One of the key element is that you can buy virtual Levis and Nikes for your Avatar. " Hemos & I have been playing The Sims Online- Come visit the Slashdot Charisma Sweatshop on the absolute west edge of the Mt Fuji City and say hi. I got my real nick for once too! I love MMORPGs and 'There' looks like another wrinkle on taking Sims type games online. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
MMORPG's are fine and they cater to a very select market. The fact the that select market is rather huge is irrellevant.
I have not started playing Everquest, Anarchy Online, There, Sims Online, EOA, or any of the others that I might have missed. I have no plans to either. I play a mud. Text. Requires reading... I know, what a pain in the ass.
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It's good to hear that some gamers are having a good time in the Sims Online - other user reviews have been less excited about the experience.
Here's a short piece about the fallout in reaction to this most-touted game release: Sims Online: Be a PAYtester?
Interesting thing with MUDs seems to be that more reading they require, the less there are people that you'd rather play without. Another thing I like with MUDs is that once there is no need to get as big audience as possible, there need not be such compromises on the gameplay, which generally mean better game.
Software should be free as in speech, but if we also get some free beer, all the better.
I played a MUD. The administrators were about as corrupt as an average politician and it was all being led by an unemployed welfare-supported hippie who wouldn't even recognize a "Bad Thing"(tm) if it hit him in the face at mach 2. Most of the players we're afraid to say anything and the few who did only droned out the words "I agree!" or something similiar to whatever ons of said administrators cried out in a fit of utter stupidity. That, and the basic idea of "You're not paying, so if you don't like it, go to hell." aren't very appealing to me. IF I would even want to play an online RPG every again, I'd either play one that's not massively multiplayer or one that is administrated by decent, unbiased folks.
Hate me!
I would entirely have to agree, based simply on the fact that in my last 14 years of mudding, some of the most fun I've had has been on a mud with 5-6 other people on it. I'm really not fond of the Massively Multiplayer Online Games. The only graphical online game I've ever played and liked was Medal of Honor:Allied Assault. But, it's not exactly the type of game that concentrates on interplayer relationships. Just go shoot someone. I used it to clear stress. I can't honestly think of a graphical interface that would work for most muds that I've played, for the reason that unless they're drawing the graphics from my mental images of the descriptions, it's not the same MUD.
.02
Just my
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Do we really need all these duplicate posts, telling us that the article is a dupe?
Bad enough that it's a dupe in the first place without having to read fifty posts telling us so over and over again.
SimsOnline seems OK, but think ahead a few years to how the medium will evolve. The 'There' virtual universe is a snapshot of the screwed up world to come.
We go from text chat where we can let down our social guard, be anything we want to be and let our imagination soar. SimsOnline moves us to cartoonish graphics, an OK bit of fun. The 'There' universe drags us backward to a social environment where we worry about our clothes, hair style, etc. Do I really want to manage two wardrobes?
Virtual universes will naturally evolve into a photo-realistic environment some years from now. Do we want a fake universe in which we have all of today's worries? Yes, you might say, because our virtual lives can be better than our real lives.
What does it mean when I enjoy my virtual life more than my real one?
I'll spend my time using technologies that are not geared toward spending as much time as possible with that technology. What's the point? I enjoy healthier recreation offline.
The Matrix missed the point as a social commentary. Machines won't need to take over the world and enslave us. We are willingly putting on the shackles and forgetting our real lives.
and why exactly did you bother playing this MUD to begin with??
cpeterso